What’s next? Leeches?
Amid a deadly epidemic, people are behaving like medieval
peasants: denying the existence of the plague, blaming imaginary villains and
seeking miracle cures.
By Gene Lyons Sep
23, 2021, 12:53pm CDT
Americans
are currently experiencing one of the most peculiar public episodes of my
lifetime. Amid a deadly worldwide disease epidemic, many people are behaving
like medieval peasants: alternately denying the existence of the plague,
blaming an assortment of imaginary villains, or running around seeking
chimerical miracle cures.
Feed
store ivermectin? I’ve administered it to horses, cows and dogs. But to my
wife? No, thank you. It says right on the label that it’s not for human
consumption. But at least you won’t die of heartworm.
Donald
Trump’s idea of injecting bleach somehow never caught on, although one Florida
family (where else?) was prosecuted for fraud after making a bundle peddling
the stuff as medicine through their church. The charges were federal. I’m only
surprised Florida’s governor didn’t award them a medal.
Incapable
of dealing with reality, too many people exist in an odd state of denial. In
essence, as a friend observed recently, “millions of Americans are engaged in a
deeply weird suicide lottery.”
Strangest
of all, of course, is that a genuine miracle cure does exist. A scientific
miracle, that is: vaccines with the capacity to bring the pandemic to an end.
Shackled by ignorance and paralyzed by fear, however, millions of our fellow
citizens have refused to take it.
Propagandized
by opportunists and madmen, and at war with everything known about communicable
diseases since the life of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), many have taken refuge in
humanity’s most basic pre-rational instinct: tribalism.
And
the tribe most COVID ‘fraidy cats have chosen is Trumpist Republicanism.
Not
all Republicans, of course. But far too many.
“No
vaccine for us, we’re Republicans.” Anything to “own the libs.” Propagandized
by the (fully vaccinated) gang at Fox News — Tucker, Laura, Sean and the rest
are all immunized as a condition of employment — millions of self-declared
“conservatives” appear determined to defy reason, science and basic common
sense to the end.
Even
Trump himself got the shot, although when he mentioned it to an Alabama crowd,
they booed, and he’s since shut up about it.
As
a direct consequence, the United States leads the developed world in COVID-19
deaths by astonishing amounts. America’s daily COVID mortality rate is three
times greater than the United Kingdom’s and six times that of France. As for
the rest of the NATO countries, Canada, Germany and Italy currently have COVID
death rates a bit lower than 1 per million of total population. The United
States rate is fully six times higher, and rising sharply.
In
short, it’s a self-inflicted wound.
Remember
when we Americans prided ourselves on our commonsense practicality, our can-do
ability to solve problems together?
That
was then. As for now, well ...
CNN’s
Jake Tapper gave Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves a hard time on “State of the
Union” recently about the fact that his state not only leads the nation in
COVID mortality, but damn near leads the world. Only Peru among the world’s
nations has a higher per capita death rate than Mississippi.
Needless
to say, the state also has among the lowest vaccination rates. Not for nothing
have Arkansans long said “Thank God for Mississippi,” on the grounds that
whatever embarrasses us here is worse over there.
Tapper
asked Reeves what he planned to do about it.
“Deaths
unfortunately are a lagging indicator,” Reeves said, an unresponsive
non-sequitur. He appeared no more capable of being embarrassed than a cow. He
recently boasted that Mississippians don’t fear death because they believe in
the afterlife.
The
Mississippi governor was stung because of something President Biden said
recently about Reeves’ fierce opposition to Biden’s mandating OSHA to require
that workers in large companies get vaccinated as a matter of public safety.
“In
Mississippi, children are required to be vaccinated against measles, mumps,
rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis B, polio, tetanus and more,” the president
pointed out. “These are state requirements. But in the midst of a pandemic that
has already taken over 660,000 lives, I propose a requirement for COVID
vaccines and the governor of that state calls it ‘a tyrannical-type move’?”
He
repeated himself for emphasis: “A tyrannical-type move?!”
Partly,
vaccine resistance stems from sheer ignorance. On Fox News and elsewhere,
people have been duped by opportunists to think vaccines can kill you, make you
sterile, implant microchips in your blood, alter your DNA, or even turn your
body into a large magnet. It appears that when people are frightened, no lie is
too crazy to find believers.
This
stuff isn’t just irrational; it’s anti-rational.
Of
course, few actually believe that stuff. It’s more a matter of who’s making the
argument. If Joe Biden, a known Democrat, is behind it, then the Red Tribe’s
against it. Even if it means risking death.
Your
death, specifically — and, of more interest to an “elitist” like me, mine.
Republicans
invoke “states’ rights,” which is what they always say when their position is
indefensible.
Sometimes,
an element of coercion is required.
Gene
Lyons is a columnist for the Arkansas Times.